The Power of the ASW

The ASW tool has circled around the district many times and has become an extremely valuable tool for many teams as they have embarked on a regular and consistent PLC.  ASW stands for “Analyzing Student Work”. The ASW process is intended to help teachers learn about and better understand their students’ strengths and needs in order to develop instruction that is best suited for each individual student or specific small group learning opportunities.

The process of using the ASW tool, in relation to a PLC, looks like this:

The best thing about the ASW tool is that it can be used with summative test data (i.e. MAP, FORWARD, STAR) or it can be used with something that the students are doing in everyday instruction (i.e. Thoughtful Logs responses, process or published writing pieces).  Most recently, the Dual Language teachers at Horning used the ASW tool to assess their students’ writing in regards to literacy standards RI6.1 and RI7.1. Based off of their results they are planning strategy groups to meet the needs of their students.  Kindergarten teachers from Bethesda used the ASW tool to analyze their students ability to rhyme and then formed small group instruction based off of their results. Sixth grade Science teachers and 7th grade Literacy teachers at Les Paul use the ASW tool consistently to gauge the understanding of their students and immediately plan small group instruction with the infusion of additional supports and scaffolds to meet their students needs. See some of their examples below.

Never used the ASW tool before?  The ASW Template will walk you through the process.  Here is an additional article with a protocol for analyzing student work.  Also, reach out to your instructional coach. They would love to be a part of the process! =)

Note: There are many ASW tools floating around and all of them are valuable. It’s not about using the exact tool but it’s about the process.

Credit: To all the wonderful PLCs that I have been a part of including the Horning DL, Les Paul Literacy and Science, and Bethesda Kindergarten.  Keep up the great work!